Explosion! -- My best crashing wave...ever.

[Mike Buckley]

It might help people comparing the original to the post-processed version to know the exact steps that I made.

1: Removed all in-camera sharpening.
2: Adjusted the tone curve. (Levels remained unchanged.)
3: Applied Unsharp tool to the entire image.
4: Applied an agressive reverse S-curve to the white water. (This helped bring out the gray tones.)
5: Adjusted the curve again to darken those mid tones.
6: Straightened the photo. (I should have done this as the first or second step but didn't notice the need until this point in the workflow.)
7: Increased the warmth and saturation of the rock.
8: Applied Local Contrast Enhancement to the brightest tones of the white water.
9: Adjusted the curve in selected areas of the white water to increase the texture.
10: Adjusted the curve in the foreground water.
11: Increased the saturation and decreased the warmth of the green tones of the foreground water.
12: Increased the saturation of the mid tones of the rock and the white water (had very subtle, possibly unnoticeable effect).
13: More fine tuning by adjusting the curve of very small areas of the white water.
14: Cropped.

It might help to note that almost all of my photos have about 5 adjustment steps. This one required so many more because about one-third of the image is the white water, which is the part of the image that produces the drama, and white water requires a lot more attention to become interesting than most subjects.

[AndrewMcD]

First reaction to this thread: Wow, what a great image.

Second reaction to this thread: Hmmmm, wonder how he got this looking so great.

Third reaction to this thread: Fantastic! A complete explanation of how the final image was achieved along with the original out of the camera image. Thanks so much for the inspiration and explanation.

This thread is a superb example of what I find best about these forums.

Thank you to all the contributors.

Andrew

[ajsmith]

Seeing the two photos together really shows how much detail there is in the water of the processed photo. The background color of the water is nice too. I do see the dog

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks again, everyone. It's great to know that it has been enjoyable and perhaps helpful for you to see the before-and-after comparison and to understand the process. I have actually continued to tweak the image a bit more to my liking.

[NorthernFocus]

Nicely done, Mike. You did achieve the detail in the wave. This is a subject that I have historically struggled with.

[Shadowman]

Got hit, good shot.

[Stagecoach]

Mike,

Thanks for posting the original. I consider it very useful when we can see what an image started as and what can then be achieved when knowing what you are doing.

[Rita]

Love this pic it is awesome!

I couldn't see the dog but I sure can after the labeled diagram from Rob

[Loose Canon]

Been hit and miss getting to this Forum lately but I am especially glad this one didn’t slip through the cracks for me!

Mike this shot is awesome. And your post-production on this really paid off! You put this on your wall and your houseguests will get their heads wet just looking at it!